Smoke colorimeter



Aug. 13, 1957 NIMEROFF ETAL 2,802,390

SMOKE COLORIMETER Filed Dec. 2, 1953 v 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. I.

uvyzzzvroxs Isadore N/memff Samuel $1300 2 ATTORNEY Aug. 13, 1957 l. NIMEROFF ETAL SMOKE COLORIMETER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 2, 1953 Aug. 13, 1957 NIMEROFF El'AL SMOKE COLORIMETER 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 2, 1953 kbw INIVENTORS Isadore Mmeroff Samuel W Wilson United. States Patent 2,802,390 SMOKE COLGRIMETER Isadore Nimerofi and Samuel W; Wilson, Washington,

1) (3., assignors to. the United States'of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army ApplicationDecemberZ, 1953, Serial No 395,857

2 Claims; (31. 88 14 (Granted under: Title35', U...S.. Code.(1952),' sec. 266) Anobject of the invention is. toprovide a photoelectric colorimetefr which will permit the accurate,measurement of the; color of asmoke sample. i

A further object oi our invention is to provide. a. threetube photoelectric colorimeter which will more accurately reproduce the three functions of. the Standard Ob} server than, has hitherto beenthecase I a i In the drawings, Figure lisaperspeotive view of our colorimeter as awhole a Figure 2. is a longitud'nal section ofthe'smoke box. Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the viewingsysterri Figure 4 is a nsversese' 'qn aken on. linel4-J-Ao Figure 3. i

FigureS is a the filters.

Figure 6.is acircuit diagram of; one of thegmeters. Figure 7 is. a graph showing; thespectral functions; of the C 1 Standard Observer.

Photoelectric tristimulus: colorimeters for; measuring colors in terms ofithe. CI-E (International, Commissioner; illumination) spectral functions have: been known; for a number of years. A discussion of their principles and mode of operation is-containcdi in Bureau. of Standards Circular C429, Photoelectric Tristimulus Colorimetry with Three Filters, July 30, 1942. p y These Calorimeters employ. three phototubes, each diagrammatic view showing the colors of phototube being combined 'witha colored filter. The filters V v are,s eleeted; in, accordance with the CIE definition ofi' 'the' fst ndard 0bserver. This definition consists" orthree functions of; WEWGI length (lambda); showingth'e relative amounts (xx, ya, 2A) of three" primary stimuli re quiredtocolor-matchthe various parts "ofthe equal energy spectrum. The values of the} functions are shown in Figure 7. A tn'stimulus designation 'of the color of a sample consistsiinthe amounts (such as X; Y; Z) ofthe three stimuli required to produce-acolor matchfor it.

Ideally, each filter photgtube combination should be such that its response would be proportional throughout the visible spectrum to one of the. curves of Fig l l@ 7. In practice, this is difii'cultto attain. One particular diff ficulty will be apparent frornta, study of the x curve. It will be noted that this curve has two lobes; a major lobe in the red portion of the spectrum and a. minor lolbeflin the blue portion. Various expedientshavebeenused in the past to overcome the difficulty caused by'this characteristic of the); curve. In some cases aportion of; the Z, reading, has, been added to the X reading, either by en 'na an att nua ed. por on f m e p n e h Iat0r, or as. apa ofth calqt efiQns .1 ther:

a hi hly saturat d,

a r i ice cases, the system has been complicated by the use of mat ng the x. function byemploying a pho o ubie having a circular sensitive element, ineornbination withamircular sectored filter, one sector having anramber colora'nd the other a; blue. color; and giving, in; combination; with the phototube, the-response of; the red lobe and blue, lobe respectively. This gives a close approximatinnofzthe deire result whilekeepinsr the c uits, simp e. and makin possible the use of commercially available: measuring in s n m m y t p Ano her spect, of our invention is concerned; with the arrangement-of apparat s for viewing smoke; We utilize a; relatively largecubipal 1201i: having a transparent wall h ch. s e nly illuminated from the exterior. A smoke bomb; or. other device for; liberating av sample of smoke is placed in the box A fan serves to. aid in distributing the smoke, A lens, hayingeafield ofi'view. relatively; small compared to the dimensions of the; box projects'lightrefleeted through the transparent wall on a. bank of three PhOtotubes ositioned-with their sensitive elements in a plane behind the; lens. By" the; use: oi headz-on" type multiplier phototubes a compact and elficienfi photo-sensitive system; isproducedg. -As: thejcolors of pyrotechnic smokes heir reflectance is quite low in: one spectral region and high in another.. T he colorimeter reqll' F i hly: sensitive photometersi and phototubes to evaluate; this; wide reflectance range with equal precision: Each phototube-is separtely connected to. a-highly' sensitive photometer circuit: of a knowr'i type." 1

Que apparatus-will now be; described; Referring 'to Figure 1 the colorime'ter may-include: base 1 0a which is mounted a smokeiboir 3; an:illuminating system 5; a viewn sys emfl; n InqlliStQc. 'The' smoke boxisiiri: thezform ofacubicalbox 11; provided with a transparent wall 131 Access is, provided by-doors 15? and 17. A circulating system is-proyided whielr includes a conduit .19 and: a blower 21; An,- inlet connection 23, provided? with. a damperldleads fromthe conduitto thCbOXz, Thejblower operates in such a. manner as to withdraw air fromthe' boxandcirculate. it; through; conduct 19 and} inlet corinectionas- Anoutlet' connection;; 25; provided'with a valve 27 serves,- to. e thust; smoke; from the box at the conclusion of thetgsfiit i llum nat n rsvs entcompr ses a frame: 29: havin dim nsi n .sim rto hq ecfi he mo e. omnd spaced thedransparent; side by a distance, approximatelyequal to those dimensions. Four flood lamps 3,1;-pro vided with brackets fiztaregmounted on theframe. Theyare positioned atanglesl-of; approximately 4'5 to the plane; of the frame and serve to. evenly illuminate transnarent wall 13.

The. viewing system, which; is shown in Figures- 3,4", and 5, includes a tubular housing 33. preferably; formed of metalsuch, as brass: The tube is supportedon astandard: 34. A lens 35 is mounted inoneend ofithetube y me n ttain n ir sfl nd. s e bv a p m 36 having ananertu esfilit. Th flood amps L and aperture 38- are so selected as to give a. suitable'intensity, of light. on. thephptooathodes; odthe phototubes: At the. other end of the tube-is a group. of threephototubes39, 41, and 43. These tubes areof' the headvon multiplier type and are substantially cylindrical in form. Each has, asemi-transparent photocathode on the: inside surface of its end wall 451 The tube which wehave employed-is describedin detail in the bulletin entitled 5 819 Multiplier Phototube, copyright '1949. by theRadio. Corporation of America and: obtainable from the: Tube Department, Radio: Corporation. of America; Harrison,

' NW5? 1.93 9 3% lisz' esaaretmounted. in suitable! sockets:

provided in base 47. In front .of each of the phototubes is one of the three colored filters 49, 51, and Y53. These filters are so selected as to give, in combination viih the light sources and thephototubes, CIE functions z, y, and 2 respectively. As indicatejdiin Figuref'5,"the ZJfilter 49 is blue and they filter 1 'is green. TheX filter 53 1S 'forrnedofi'two sectors, an amber sector 55 and a blue comprises two sets of resistances 135 and 137 controlled sector 57.'-"1-he design ofthe-filters'will be described in more detail later in-the specification. The filters are supported on a filter holder? 59 'which-is supported onposts '61 connected to base- 47. The individual filters are mounted in housing rings 63 and are held in place by snap rings 65.-

Stray light baffles are-mountedbetweenthe lens 35 and-the filters. 1 I

As the smokes are translucent media, light scattering as well as transmitting and reflecting, a smoke chamber which is large as compared with the field of view of the 1 lens and which has a uniformly illuminated window is required to minimize edge effect resulting from translucency. :We have utilized a chamber which was a three foot cube with a clear glass window '13, approximately the total area of one of the faces of the. cube.- {The lenshad-a diameter of approximately S'inches and a'focal'length of inches. The diameter of aperture 38 was about one inch. The lens was placed about 35 inches from the window 13 and the distance'from the lens to the photocathodes was about 21 inches. I

- The re'sistorsfor the multiplier phototubes are inclosed in resistor box 67. I The'output of each phototube is transmitted to one of the'meters 9 through cable 69. The meters 9 which .we have employed are of a known type described in Photovolt 'Multiplier Photometer Model 520-m,'0pe'rating Instructions issuedby the Photovolt Corporation, 95 Madison'Avenue,-New'York'16, New York. .The circuit diagram of one of these meters and its associated phototube is shown in Figure 6 on'which tube types and values:of resistances have been shown.

Light falling on the photosensitive component (cathode) of the multiplier phototube," produces anelectrical current which is amplified by the dynode stages of the phototube. This amplified current passes through the range selector stage where a desired fraction 1, A %00, or 1 of the current is directed toward the control and balancing stages. The disparity between the outputs of the control and balancing amplifiertubes is evidenced in the indicating meter by a flow of current proportional to the disparity, which in turn is proportional to the light falling on the cathode of the phototuben s The circuit will now be described in more detail. The electric circuit is'built around multiplier'phototube 101 having a I photocathode 103, dynodes 105 connected through resistors 107 and an anode-109. Included in the circuit is a voltagelcontrolstage indicated generally at 111. This circuit includes four voltage regulating tubes 113, 115, 117, and 1191 Tubes 113, 115, aud'117, connected in series, maintain a drop of 375 volts and control the potential applied to the dynode circuit. Tube 119 maintains a drop of 105 volts and controls the potential applied to the plate circuits of the electron tubes of the two-stage amplifying system. All four tubes in series maintain a drop of 480 volts and control the potential applied to the anode circuit of the phototube.

Current is supplied to tubes 113, 115, and. 117 by a full wave rectifier 121 which is connected to a centertapped transformer 123., The current is smoothed out by a filter circuit comprising condensers 125 and inductor 127. Current is supplied to tube 119 by a half-wave rectifier 129 which in turn is supplied by auto-transformer 131. The current is smoothed by a filter circuit comprising condensers 132 and inductor 134. Current is supplied to the entire system through constant voltage transformer 136.

A range selector indicated generally by 133 determines the'propo rtion of the phototube output current which is delivered to the amplifying stages. This range selector for the various tubes as indicated by x and by rheostats 139 and 141, respectively. Rheostat 139 is grounded as indicated at 143. By suitable adjustments. a desired proportion of the phototube output may be delivered to the control grid of the control tube 145. This tube is mounted in parallel with balancing tube 147 in the manner shown. The plates of tubes and 147 are coupled directly to thecontrol grids of tubes 149 and 151, respectively. Tubes 149 and 151 are cathode-loaded by the indicating meter 153 which includes a sensitivity control 155. 'The meter is controlled by a switch 157 and the tubes 149 and 151 are protected by a thermal switch 159.

Transformers 161 and 163 supply the filament currents y respectively.

The design of the filters is as follows:

The colorimetric spectral functions, approximated in this colorimeter by combined.source-filter-phototube response, are those established by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE). But, as spectral response difiers between phototubes, spectral transmission of filters must be designed for each phototube.

The theory of the design of the filters is based on two propositions: that the three CIE observer functions represent the colorimetric system of the average normal observer, and that each of these functions can be approximated by proper selection of optical filters in combina= tion with a light source and a phototube. When the instrument is intended toevaluate the color of non-fiuorescent smokes as if they were viewed in daylight (6500 K.),

even though in the colorimeter they are illuminated by incandescent lamp light (2800 K.), the proper correction is built into the filter design. If the colorimeter is intended to evaluate the color of fluorescent, as well as non-fluorescent, smokes as viewed 'under daylight, the approximation of the CIEfunction will be accomplished by the phototube-filter combination alone, but the illuminator is required to yield artificial daylight.

The CIE spectral response functions, x, 5, and 2, under daylight spectral conditions, Ev, are respectively, xEv, ;E.., and 2E. If the illuminator yields spectral distribution, E2, the spectral responses, S1, .Sy, and S2, of the phototubes for each of these functions must be altered by filters having spectral transmittances, TJ.-, Ty, and T2, respectively, in order to refer to viewing by daylight. This condition may be stated mathematically:

wher Kr, Ky, and Kz are proportionality constants, independent of wavelength; for their respective functions. The desired relative spectral transmittances then are determined by solving Equations 1 for KxTx, KyTy and KzTz.

The filter design is accomplished by determining the proper combination of colored glasses. Where the transmittance To, of a glass stock thickness, to, is to be changed to a transmittance, T1, of thickness, t1, the following relationship must be solved:

where k is unity minus the Fresnel reflectance of the glass. The approximate valueof k for glass is 0.96. To facilitate this computationa thickness-transmittance nomographmay be used. (See, for,example, Glass Color Filters by Corning, published by Corning Glass Works, copyright 1948,.) As no combination of glasses has ever achieved complete duplication of the bi model. x-function in a single filter, the filter is constructed of two sectors, one to approximate theIbluellobe and the other to approximate the red lobe of the x-function. This sector arrangement v assumes. that the response of the photosensitive surface is radially uniform, and precautions are taken to superimpose the center of the filter over the center of the photosensitive surface. i

Due to the circular shape of the photocathode and filter, and the sector-type division of the filter, it is not necessary that the response be uniform in all directions and in all parts of the photocathode. Due to the method of manufacture, the photocathode is most likely to have radial symmetry. Moreover, it is simple to test the tube for necessary uniformity by simply rotating the filter in its plane and noting whether or not the meter reading changes. If the reading is not uniform, one can determine the position at which the best average value is obtained and set the filter in that position. Another expedient which could be used if the cahode were non-uniform in its response would be to rotate the filter in its plane during the test. In general, however, we have found the photocathodes to be sufiiciently radially symmetrical to make these expedients unnecessary.

The sector angle p (rho) may be computed as follows:

The desired relative transmittance for this filter, KxTx, is separated into the blue lobe and red lobe as,

If the observed transmittances of the filters designed to approximate these lobes are Txb and Tan, respectively. then to assure that the areas under each of the lobes for the designed'filter are in the same proportion as the respective lobes for the desired filter the following conditions must hold:

For one particular tube and the associated filter which we have employed Kxb=0.914, Ka:r=5.485, and. =5l. In this case the blue sector was formed of 7.5 mm. of Corning glass code number 5433 and 1 mm. of Corning glass code number 3389 while the amber sector was formed of 3 mm. of Corning glass code number 9788 and 6 mm. of Corning glass code number 3304. (See Glass Color Flters by Corning, cited above.)

While our filter-phototube combination duplicates the CIE functions more accurately than previous photoelectric colorimeters, the duplication is not perfect. Best re- .sults are therefore obtained by calibrating the colorimeter with standards having spectral selectivities similar to those of the smokes. In the absence of spectral data for the smokes, satisfactory colorimetry may be achieved by using standards having colors similar to those of the smokes investigated. For this purpose we have used Munsell color charts (see The Munsell Book of Color, published 1929 by the Munsell Color Company, 10 East Franklin, St., Baltimore, Md.).

In operation a standard, for example 6 X 9 Munsell paper, having a color similar to that expected from smoke is placed on the inner face of window 13 in such a position that the three phototubes see only the standard. To check on this positioning, a sheet of white paper may be moved around the periphery of the standard. If the meter needle of each photometric scale remains reasonably stationary during this check, the standard is properly placed. The sensitivity control 155 for each meter is then adjusted to set the corresponding photometers to read correctly the tristimulus values X, Y, an Z of the standard selected.

The standard is then removed and a sample of smoke introduced. If a smoke grenade is used, it is placed in the chamber near the center of the line at the junction of the floor and the rear wall and the smoke discharged. The blower 21 is then started, damper 24 is opened and valve 27 closed so that the smoke is circulated in the chamber. If smoke leaks out of the seams of the chant ber, showing that an excess of smoke is present in the box, valve 27 is opened to sufiicient degree to exhaust enough smoke to stop the leakage. Readings of the tristimulus values as given by the-meters9 are begun when uniform distribution of the smoke is achieved. Periodic readings should be taken to determine the change, if any, of smoke color with time. When sufficient data have been taken, the valve 27 is opened, damper 24 is closed and the smoke exhausted from the chamber. The window should be cleaned before making another test. If different smokes are to be tested, the colorimeter should be recalibrated for each color using the proper standard. The computations of the CIE chromaticity coordinates are made as follows:

Add the measured tristimulus values, X, Y, and Z, for a particular smoke. Divide each of these tristimulus values in turn by their sum, obtaining the chromaticity coordinates, x, y, and z, respectively, Thus:

To check this computation add the chromaticity coordinates. Their sum should equal 1000:0901.

While we have described our apparatus in considerable detail, it is obviously susceptible of modification. We, therefore, do not desire our invention to be limited except by the scope of the appended claims.

We claim: 1

1. A tristimulus colorimeter comprising a source of light to be measured, three filter-phototube combinations, each of said filter-phototube combinations comprising a phototube having a photocathode and a filter closely adjacent said photocathode and between said photocathode and said source, each of said filter-phototube, combinations being so selected as to give a different one'of the CIE functions x, y, and z, means for distributing light from said source uniformly to said filter-phototube combinations, each of said phototubes having a circular photocathode, the filter of the combination giving the E function being formed of two sectors, one sector being of such color and size as to have a spectral transmission corresponding to the red lobe of the x function and the other sector being of such color and size as to have a spectral transmission corresponding to the blue lobe of the 3: function, the center of said sectors being aligned .with the center of the photocathode, said photocathode being substantially uniform circumferentially in its response, and means for indicating the output of each of said phototube.

2. A tristimulus colorimeter comprising a relatively large source of light to be measured, a lens so positioned as to collect light from said source, three phototubes having their photocathodes positioned in a plane behind said lens, a filter closely adjacent each photocathode and between said photocathode and said lens, each filter being of such color that it will produce in cooperation with its respective phototube a different one of the CIE functions x, y, and z the phototube giving the x function having a circular photocathode and the filter cooperating with said phototube consisting of an amber sector and a blue sector, said amber sector being of such color and size asto reproduce the red lobe of the x function and the blue sector being of such color and size as to reproduce the blue lobe of the x function, the center of said sectors being aligned with the center of the respective photocathode, said photocathode being substantially uniform circumferentially in its response, and means for indicating the output of each of said phototubes.

(References on following page) --7 References Cited inthe file of this patent STATES PATENTS 1,971,737 1 "Troland Aug. 28, 1934 2,593,313 Kamm cull;

Apr. 15, 1952 Society Transactipn paggs137-140. 

